The app that lets parents control their child's phone: New software blocks texts, websites and internet access

For many parents, trying to drag their children’s attention away from their phone is a constant battle of wills.

But help is at hand thanks to a new app which allows adults to control their offspring’s mobile from afar.

The AlphaBlue app, which costs £2.99 a month, allows parents to block a child’s access to the internet, certain websites or text messaging services when they are meant to be at school or doing their homework.

The app’s inventor, Graeme Menday, a former Army officer who trained Princes William and Harry at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, said he came up with the idea after his son began playing on his phone during the school day.

The 43-year-old, from Sandhurst, Berkshire, said: ‘My 12-year-old was using his BlackBerry when he was meant to be doing his homework and was text messaging at school.

‘It’s a new problem in schools. Millions of pounds is being lost in teaching time because of this kind of disruption.’

Although the app allows certain websites or applications to be blocked at specific times, it still allows outgoing and incoming calls from a list of chosen numbers in case of emergencies.

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Mr Menday’s app is being showcased at the British Invention Show at the Barbican Centre in London, which ends on Saturday.

AlphaBlue was one of a range of solutions to child-rearing problems displayed at the show.

Blocked: The app lets parents stop children from using the internet, certain websites or texting at school or when doing homework

Another was a baby bottle that helps a child to eat and sleep when they have a cold. The device, created by Lorraine Ritchie, 37, from Upminster, Essex, fits around the bottle’s neck and emits decongestant vapours to clear the child’s sinuses.

Mrs Ritchie, who works as a PA, and made the bottle with her husband Robert, 38, a design engineer, said: ‘Like all new parents I found when my baby was bunged up he wouldn’t feed.

‘It was miserable. He wouldn’t sleep, we were exhausted and our whole routine was disrupted just because of a common cold.’

‘There was nothing out there to solve our problem,’ Mr Ritchie added. ‘So we decided to do it ourselves.’